Landing Mackerel on the Pier Head at Portmagee
A feathered five from fathoms deep
distills a shower of broken pearls
Burnished silver-blue fish
Breathless, sunlit. Flop and curl
Give counted out a buyer's dozen
Fresh salted from a brief affray
Drawn by hand and hook
to mouth a searing oratory
From a barbed baptism. Baskets lie
gutted and gulled. Market ready
Heaped and held down by the quay
In hundreds, priced, marked and iced
Glass eyes fixed. Like a thousand
Stars reflected from an ancient sea
Supplicants for salvation
Shoaling towards eternity
This anchorage is still
Firm-footed in the bright wave's harvest
Ripples from remembered storms
stirring ghosts in long departed boats
Simon-Peter's, Andrew's. The Sons of Zebedee
Brendan in his leather tub, sailing
the soft swell of the sea
Tidal. Insistent litany
Want to read another? Back the Strand is another poem set around Portmagee. It also has a famous fan!
Signed and framed copies of this poem printed on quality paper are available in any size. Calligraphed versions also available. Please email the address below for more details. Copyright Brendan O'Neill.
Not to be reproduced in any form without permission.
